From Sales to Real Estate Success in Florida and Texas

Christian (00:00.494)
Hey everybody. Welcome back to the show. Today we have my special guest here, Leo Mills. He’s a Honduran American investor who has called Florida home for most of his adult life. After a successful corporate career in sales, Leo actually transitioned into real estate and now operates in Florida and Texas with a focus on South Florida and in Texas, particularly Houston. So he’s actively investing through a fund and helping other investors find the best returns on their capital. So in this episode, we’re going to dive into his journey.

the transition from corporate sales to real estate, and some of the strategies for identifying profitable deals in two of the most competitive markets in the country. So if you’re looking to invest wisely and maximize your returns, you’re not gonna wanna miss this episode. So without further ado, Leo, my friend, welcome to the show. Super happy to have you on, So why don’t you just introduce the audience to who you are, your background, and just how you got here.

Leo D. Mills (00:52.696)
Yeah, for sure. Christian, first of all, thank you so much for having me. I love what you guys are doing and just grateful for the opportunity to be here. So as you mentioned, I was born and raised in Honduras. I lived there till I was 13. I did basically high school here in the US in Southwest Florida. But Miami was always somewhat of a second home.

I was lucky enough to be born a broad American citizen. grandfather was from Oklahoma, so I’m somewhat of a mix, but I grew up basically visiting the U.S. and the family had history here and home, so Miami was always one of those places that I didn’t necessarily see myself living here.

when I was growing up, but it was always a big part of my life. And the older I got, I went to school here, you know, for college at FIU and I moved back to Honduras, lived in the Northeast for a little bit in my sales career. But Miami always kind of called me back, so to speak. I was always somewhat of a contrarian, you I guess you could say that I’m a rebel at heart. So although I really enjoyed

corporate sales and my first exposure to sales jobs was, you know, I was very lucky. I’m a person of faith and God put me in the right places at the right time. I got a great sales job with Sprint Corporation working as a business consultant with them, kind of like in their enterprise unit. So we were working with larger businesses, know, bigger deals, big opportunities for a commission.

From there I got my first job literally at right place right time at a Philly cigar club event, bro. I was living in Philadelphia at the time. I went to a Philly cigar club event. One of the guys there owned a management consulting company with a focus on sales. And that kind of kicked off the consulting side of my career. I did that for a couple of few years. And again, Miami kind of kept calling me back. So I moved down here and worked with corporate clients. But that kind of reveled

Leo D. Mills (02:52.368)
inside of me was just always, I didn’t like being, having to be someplace at some time and you know, that eventually that kind of just drew me towards wanting to be an entrepreneur and I did, you know, a few businesses, started with digital marketing and eventually, you know, I saw what was happening around me in Miami, you know, and if you think about…

South Florida in the last five years, we were talking about it just now, the bones for what Miami’s becoming have always been here. And I think the world just hadn’t figured it out. And COVID really accelerated the adoption of Miami as an international hub, right?

worldwide city that has connectivity. mean, yesterday I went to drop my parents off at the airport, I picked my dad up, sorry. You know, there’s thousands of flights that come in and out of Miami International every single day from 185 different destinations. We’ve got seaports for cruise ships and cargo ships. We have the Brightline now that connects Orlando and…

And Miami, we’ve got Amtrak running from Chicago to Miami, right? Like the bones were always here. The food scene has completely exploded. There’s culture. There’s always something fun to do. We just had like, you know, South Beach Food and Wine, you know, from music festivals to all of these things that have really turned Miami into this amazing city. And the real estate money has followed, right? So when you start to think about some of the projects that are coming here, know, PMG is a big developer.

out of the Midwest and did a lot of work in New York. These guys have stamped the flag down here in…

Leo D. Mills (04:33.294)
in Miami and are putting together some amazing projects. know, George Perez’s related group. If anybody who knows anything about real estate in South Florida knows that name, he’s basically built, you know, 70 to 80 % of Miami, right? Like every single condo tower was him. And we’re starting to see this transition of what construction used to look like pre 2015 to now these basically super towers like Aston Martin and Walter Fistoria that’s coming, you know, in a couple of years, Mandarin Oriental, St. Regis and Sunny Isles,

Christian (04:40.366)
Mm-hmm.

Leo D. Mills (05:03.268)
and Brickle, 1428, I mean the list just goes on and on of these buildings that, you I go to these sales galleries and I’m genuinely blown away because it’s like something out of a movie, you know? It’s honestly mind blowing. you know, sales and being a real estate agent or broker go hand in hand. So when I was kind of figuring out what it was that I wanted to do, you know, it just made sense to kind of pursue a career in…

Christian (05:11.034)
Ha ha.

Yeah, literally. huh.

Leo D. Mills (05:31.822)
in real estate and I knew somebody that had a brokerage and you know, so I guess that was four years ago or so basically got into it and really became specialized in large part because that brokerage was focused in that, right? So luxury pre-construction is where most of our business comes from. We do have obviously a broad list of clients, but that’s most of what we sell here in South Florida because that’s what’s moving. And it also gives you an opportunity to work with a very particular type of person, right? Like if you’re investing in

Miami from anywhere in the US, Europe, or obviously Latin America is a big part of our client base, and you’re buying something that’s worth a million and up, you know, in Miami…

A million bucks will get you a studio basically or like a one bedroom for these new projects. Buildings like Mandarin Oriental, VIA Miami, 1428, starting prices are five, six million dollars. Obviously these are larger places, but the cheapest unit in the building is five, six million bucks. And that maybe was normal for places like New York, London, and San Francisco, Chicago, but it wasn’t the norm for Miami. So we’ve seen this explosion.

Christian (06:19.096)
Yeah.

Christian (06:27.386)
Crazy.

Leo D. Mills (06:42.782)
in price per square foot and a demand that just doesn’t seem to be slowing down. And you have an enormous influx of very intelligent, very wealthy individuals, very hungry and talented people that are making Miami just this huge melting pot of talent and success. And yes, you know, there is a price to progress and, you know, things are expensive. And I know people are feeling that all over the world. But for me, it’s a very exciting time because, you know, I like to work hard. I’m a big hustler and I see the city being filled

with people that like to do the same, right? So it’s such a motivational city. It’s aspirational. I went for a seven mile run yesterday. I saw 20 Lamborghinis, a couple Bugattis, a few McLarens, beautiful people, healthy people in shape. So Miami is just this amazing place that really, and I was talking about it with you just now, we’re still early days. The price per square foot that people are paying right now for the luxury that they are going to get is cheap.

Christian (07:27.802)
Mm-hmm.

Leo D. Mills (07:41.558)
not just affordable, but cheap paying $3,000 a square foot to live at the St. Regis and Brickle, which is, know, the St. Regis is one of the most luxurious brands on the planet. Living, being a resident of the St. Regis and Brickle will be one of the most exclusive living experiences that you can get. So if you pay 10 million bucks for an apartment right now at contract, it’s probably going to be worth 15 when you get it, you know, in two to three years. And obviously this isn’t financial advice, right? But this is my gesture. This is what I happen.

Christian (08:08.014)
Right.

Leo D. Mills (08:11.472)
And what we’ve seen happen because pre-construction prices have basically doubled and tripled in the right projects from 2000, 2001 to 2024 and what they’re selling at now. So that’s one big part of our business. I’m a huge Miami guy, Like Miami is my city now. I’m a big fan of what is happening here. And that’s also another reason why…

Selling real estate in Miami was a good fit because I’m just selling Miami is easy You know our company is called by Miami group the brokerage that I’m at is called international Realty group and you know there’s a big presence of international investing and people from all over the world So for me, it’s just such an exciting time to be a part of a city that is really coming into itself Right like I tell my clients. This is like New York in the 1920s. You know

Christian (08:58.34)
Yeah.

Leo D. Mills (08:59.094)
We’re 1850s. So it’s a really fun time to be here. And the beautiful part of it is that people are making a lot of money, right? Like our clients are investing in vehicles that are generating.

Huge net gain on paper whilst only paying 40 to 50 percent of the asset, right? So you’re putting something under contract at a million bucks putting 40 to 50 percent down and it’s probably gonna be worth 1.5 to 2 million when you close right? now you have a net, you know, you own an asset that only costs you five hundred thousand dollars But it’s worth two million and you owe five hundred

Right? Those are the numbers that we’re seeing here in Miami. So the smart money is flocking to this, Like who are your investors? Our investors are smart money, know, investors from all over the world, Mexico, Columbia, obviously the U.S., Illinois, New York, California, Texas.

Christian (09:36.484)
and

Leo D. Mills (09:51.758)
So it’s just this, like I said, and I’m sure you can tell, like I get vibrant when I talk about this because it’s such an exciting time to be here. There’s so many awesome things happening in Miami. And then, you know, I’m fortunate enough to be a part of another great project in another great state. know, Texas has also benefited heavily from what’s happening across the world in the U.S. in the last five years. Two million people moved to Texas in the last year, right? So I think the net,

Christian (09:56.024)
I could feel it. I could feel it, man. Yeah.

Leo D. Mills (10:21.712)
gain of Florida that we know right because those numbers are usually higher because this is just people that actually went to the DMV and switched their license. So there’s got to be you know maybe 10-20 % I don’t know what the gap is but let’s say if we go by the numbers Florida’s net gain last year was about 1.6 Texas was like 2 million it’s a huge number.

Christian (10:29.881)
Right.

Leo D. Mills (10:42.382)
During COVID, was like thousands of people on a weekly basis moving to Texas and Florida. So a very unique phenomena and a great opportunity to invest has been created in Texas because just like in Florida, you have a huge housing shortage.

Christian (10:49.668)
Mm-hmm.

Leo D. Mills (10:59.886)
And the niche product that we have found is that we have a big fix and flip business. We have a fund as well. So we work with accredited investors that want to make real estate money without having to do any of the heavy lifting and deal with any of the headaches that do come along with this type of business.

But not only is there a housing shortage in Houston, but there is a housing shortage of good quality construction. So there is a huge need for rehabbing and renovation of products for people that are already living there, renting, want to buy, et cetera. So we’ve built our business partners, Jose Pina, who’s our CEO, dear friend of mine, we’re all from Honduras, I’ve known the guy basically my entire life.

Christian (11:41.709)
awesome.

Leo D. Mills (11:42.83)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it’s a good group of guys that really just want to be successful, right? And we found this vehicle to do that with the fix and flip. Specifically in Houston, our goal is to grow that business to other cities, key cities in Texas. But right now, there’s just such an opportunity in Houston that that’s what we do. We pay our investors 15 % after 365 days, which is really attractive because most real estate syndications and funds are going to lock your money up for 36 months and beyond.

And then cash flow is something that people want from real estate, but it’s difficult to get when you invest in a fund. So we went through great length to allow our investors to enjoy cash flow. So with a minimum investment of $100,000, we do have a cash flow option. That annual rate is going to come down to 12%, but you are going to start getting 1 % on your money 30 to 45 days after you fund your account.

So you give me a hundred grand, we start paying you basically a thousand dollars a month, 30 to 45 days after you funded your account. We’ll do that for 12 months. And then at that point you decide, hey, these guys did what they said they were going to do. I’m going to keep my money in there. I’m going to give them more money or I’m going to

take my principle and go elsewhere. So it’s a very exciting time to be in real estate. I think it’s a very exciting time to be alive. We touched on this briefly, like I’m a huge person of faith. I believe that everything I have done and I’m able to do is through the strength that I find in God. And I’m so thankful to him for everything that is happening in my life.

And one of those things is that, as you said, we’re finding great success in two of the most competitive markets, real estate markets on the planet, not just the US, but in the world. And not only are we making a lot of money and finding a lot of success, but so are our partners. And I think that that’s the key, right? We were talking about it before.

Christian (13:26.926)
Mm-hmm.

Leo D. Mills (13:27.534)
We’re all winning, you know, and that’s a beautiful environment to be in. It’s all it’s not all going to be roses and rainbows forever, you know, as entrepreneurs, we know that you’re going to get punched in the face every now and then. But for now, there’s just such an excitement and success around what we’re doing that, you know, we do get punched in the face every day. You know, we’re fixing houses. We’ve got dozens of projects going, you know, here in Miami, we’re dealing with, you know, pre-construction is a great product.

Christian (13:33.614)
No. No.

Leo D. Mills (13:55.374)
but it also means that you have to deal with a client for a long, time. Because if I sell you a product, Christian, that you’re not gonna get until 2028, guess who you’re gonna be calling every quarter asking about that deposit. So again, it’s not easy, but it can be simple. And if you surround yourself with the right people, you do things in good faith. I do believe that there’s just such an enormous amount of abundance in this world. And Florida and Texas are definitely good places to try and find it through real estate.

Christian (14:02.938)
That’s right.

Yep.

Christian (14:22.212)
That’s amazing, man. I appreciate you sharing all of that. That’s, that’s wonderful, man. Well, let’s talk about, know we’ve been talking all about the good, right? But I’m interested to know, and I know the audience as well. mean, what setbacks have you faced in your journey, whether that’s personal or your real estate journey, and why don’t you just give some, some of your tips on how to overcome those and how did you, how you did that.

Leo D. Mills (14:43.872)
Absolutely. So I’m going to touch on my personal life because, you know, I’m today, I’m in love with the person that I’ve become, but that wasn’t always the case. And that led to a lot of self-destructive behavior. You know, early on success in my life led to a lot of money in my pocket and bad decisions. And, you know, for in my twenties, my little brother likes to joke. Well, I say little brother, he’s 25 years old, he’s a grown man, but he’s always going to be my little brother to me.

But he says, you your 20s was like being a rock star without the fame. You know, there was rehab, there was prison, there was, you violence, there was, there was things that really don’t align with me as an individual. But it was because I was a broken, scared young man. And I’ve changed my life to the point now where obviously, you know, I do everything through, through my faith in God, but I’ve also become an extremely disciplined individual. And I think that if people can find, you know, the

to wake up earlier than everybody else and get a little bit of exercise in, find, you know, I have this, I’ve built a brand around the fact that you could live your best day every single day and I call it the best day blueprint, right? If you can have victories, three victories in three areas of life, spiritual, mental and physical.

and business, then you will have the best day. And that’s what I try to do every single day that I wake up, right? So I aim to live my best life every single day of my life, and it’s not easy. We get punched in the face all the time, but I think that your mindset and your outlook and the perspective that you have on things really have a market impact on the type of life that you live, right? So for many years, I focused heavily on the things that I didn’t have or the things that I thought I deserved and didn’t have or the things that went wrong.

So obviously God in the universe gave me more of that scarcity, fear, know, more lack. And after, you know, I’ve changed my life around after many years, consistently, I focus on the things that I do have and God in the universe give me more and more and more abundant. So I’m a big believer in that, right? Like your thoughts and your perspective on life.

Leo D. Mills (16:44.654)
literally shape your material world. So if I could give anybody a piece of advice on how to kind of just build the best reality that you can is it all starts right here. know, life sucks. Life is hard. I’ve been bankrupt. I’ve not known where the money was coming for the rent. I’ve been, like I said, in rehab center. I’ve been, I was in a car act before the rehabilitation center. I drove my car off a 40 foot cliff after a night of drinking and doing drugs and I sat locked in the car because I couldn’t get out. The doors were so smashed.

that I couldn’t get out of the car. And I sat there with, you people ask me, why do you have such a strong faith in God? Because I’ve never felt alone, even at the lowest places of my life. So right now I look back on those things and it’s like those things molded the person that I am today. I’m able to have the outlook because now I look back and I know that those difficult experiences created a man who’s strong and who knows that life isn’t supposed to be easy, you know, at all.

suffering we can find a lot of beautiful things and I think that if we were able to shift our perspective as individuals and see you know things as opportunities instead of problems we can create a much more more beautiful life. So from the personal standpoint there’s that. From the business standpoint you know real estate is a really fun thing to do but there’s a lot of moving parts right and you rely on a lot of different people you know we’ve had

Christian (18:05.028)
Yeah.

Leo D. Mills (18:10.176)
you know, as an example, I’m not gonna name names, but there was a project here that was heavily focused around the short-term rental aspect, right? So basically you were buying a unit in a condo hotel and us and our investors were sold an idea that this thing was worked out, everything was gonna be perfect. And as soon as, you know, the units were delivered and it started operating, the reality was that it wasn’t. And a lot of people, you know, I think ultimately,

I tell my investors don’t sell because you have the money and if you can sit on this whatever you paid for it in three to four years is going to be worth way more. You got the World Cup next year, you got Formula One every year, you know right now in March that’s a huge event. But you know investors took it on the chin and they thought they were going to be able to cover their mortgage you know for the first year or two off the rental income.

Christian (18:59.45)
Right.

Leo D. Mills (19:02.07)
And it wasn’t the case, you know, so real estate investments don’t always go the way that you want them to. And I think that that’s, that’s the same for life in general, right? Like you have to be ready to pivot. have to basically, you know, Murphy’s law is beautiful, right? Because if you just believe that anything that can happen will

You’re much better prepared for when things do go wrong. know, so when it comes to real estate, if I could give anybody advice, it’s, know, become a master of your craft, right? Like if you want to do a real estate deal and you have a nine to five or there’s something else that’s taking up your time, figure out what it is that you want to do, you know, and be specific, not just like, I want to do real estate. No, I want to buy my first multifamily unit and I want to use FHA or I want to do my first flip or whatever it might be. Be specific. Learn what market you want to do it in.

Christian (19:22.222)
Yes.

Leo D. Mills (19:50.422)
And then find out what a good deal looks like. Become an expert of the thing that you want to do. And I promise you, if you do that, you know, it’s not that you’re guaranteed success, but you’re very well positioned to make some money because real estate is a vehicle that has created millionaires for a long time. And it’s going to continue to, because it’s true. It’s efficient from a taxation perspective. So it allows you to offset a lot of money, you know, even if you’re a high earner. And number two, because you’re getting appreciation and potential cashflow, it’s a really, really good asset. So that would be, you know, my advice.

on anybody wanting to do a real estate deal if you’ve never done a real estate before is find out exactly what is it that you want to do and then become an expert at that then go on and execute.

Christian (20:31.258)
I love that man. you’re man, I just want to say your story is so inspiring because you could have you let all those things that you’ve went through never lead you to where you are now, but you decided not to be a victim. You decided to be a victor is what I always call it. Right. And your experiences do mold you. Right. I, I hundred percent agree that you do have to suffer to truly awaken, right. To, be who you truly are and who you were created to be.

Leo D. Mills (20:46.806)
I that.

Christian (20:58.072)
Right. So I 100 % believe that everything that happened to you happened for you and not to you, man. So it’s super exciting to just to see where you’re at with things. So just wanted to tell you that transition here, Leo, I kind of want to ask you a question too. You know, how, how do you educate and build trust with your investors though? Right. Either the ones that are credited, the ones that maybe aren’t accredited kind of just walk us through your process and how you’re, educating your investors to, work with you.

Leo D. Mills (21:08.396)
No, appreciate that.

Leo D. Mills (21:24.888)
Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think that one of the things that, and this is probably terrible sales advice, but I’m a very candid person and I’m very direct with people. And I do think that, you know, there is an element of risk every time you give somebody money, right? Like every time you trust that something that you make an agreement, whether there’s a document, you know, a contract, whatever you want to call it.

Christian (21:34.852)
Yeah, I like it.

Leo D. Mills (21:51.89)
you do put a fair amount of trust into people. So for us, we have a successful track record. For the fund specifically, we are a registered 506D fund, right? So we report to the SEC, the federal government knows exactly who we are, what we’re doing, what we’re raising this capital for, and what we want to invest it in. But I never lean on that, right? Because that doesn’t mean anything to anyone.

Right? How many, you know, look at the loop of Wall Street, right? Like you could, you could be, you know, registered and check off all the bells and whistles and still just not do things the right way.

Christian (22:19.546)
Yup.

Leo D. Mills (22:27.182)
So for us, I’m big on building relationships, right? And if we’re able to build a relationship to where you trust me enough and even if if usually we say, we won’t take less than 100 but you want to give me 50 and I say, you know, start with 50 we’re gonna start paying you in 30 days, right? Because we do have the cash flow option and then basically go from there, you know, when it comes to building trust I think that the track record is obviously one of the things the legal framework of the business is always going to be important.

But I think more than anything it’s building relationships and and myself, know our CEO Jose and my business partner

His brother, Maury Pina who’s the president, I’m the director of investor relations. You know, we’re a group of guys that have known each other for 20, 30 years. We come from Honduras. We really have high hopes and aspirations for our lives. So I think that like we do a really good job of letting people see the things that we want to accomplish with our life. And that’s what people invest in, right? Because at end of the day, most of our partners don’t give us money because yeah, they want to make money or whatever it might be. And they know that they’re making money through fix and flip, but it’s a bet on us.

And I think that if I could give you a short answer to your question, it’s you have to build the relationship to a place where the person that you’re dealing with feels comfortable investing in you. Not in your business, not in your product, not in the service, and not even in the returns, but making an investment in you as an individual or as a company. And if you can get to that place, heck man, I think that you’re gonna have a really easy time raising capital.

Christian (23:34.522)
Mm.

Leo D. Mills (23:57.058)
There are a lot of things that you have to do before that, right? In order to build a good relationship, you have to have the legal framework. You have to have the track record. You have to have the numbers that say, hey, we bought this for this and sold it for that. And we made this much money, which we do have, you know, and we walk our clients exactly through that. But I think that the easiest way to get people’s trust is to have a compelling enough story to have people believe in you, right? Like I’m a big reader and think and grow rich always talks about, you know,

getting people to believe in you by believing in them. You we were talking about this before. I I always, I heard this somewhere before, but if they just made kids read that book in like eighth grade, I think we would live in such a different world. But there’s, know, and I, to this day, I have it written out my definite chief aim in life and the whole, you know, there’s a chapter in the book where he tells you, read this shit every day.

Christian (24:29.508)
Such a good book.

Christian (24:38.34)
Gosh.

Leo D. Mills (24:51.79)
and you’re going to be that much closer to your goals. And I have it written down. And one of them is like, you know, I’m going to get people to believe in me by believing in them. And I think that that’s a big piece, right? If you can get people to believe in you and what you’re trying to accomplish, you’re probably 90 % of the way there.

Christian (25:09.082)
And I think the biggest step to doing that is being yourself too, right? It’s being authentically you, right? And I think Bob Proctor, you’re sure you’re familiar with Bob Proctor. He talks a lot about that as well. It’s just being authentic, right? You want to show people who you truly are, because eventually they’ll figure out who you are if you don’t, right? So it’s just super important, man. Like the amount of knowledge. I hope you guys are really receiving this as well, because Lord knows I am Leo, man. You could be a preacher as well. I mean, this is, come on.

Leo D. Mills (25:35.786)
Amen.

Christian (25:36.782)
The heat’s turning up in the room, man. But man, I wish we could go for another hour on this, because I know we could 100 % go for another hour, because there’s so many more questions I want to ask you, But unfortunately, we don’t. So I just want to turn this over to you now, Leo, to close it out on where people can find you. Obviously, we’re going to put all of your socials in our description. But why don’t you just share where people need to reach out to you, and I’ll let you take it from there.

Leo D. Mills (25:43.64)
Thank your time.

Leo D. Mills (26:01.858)
Yeah, for sure. So I think the easiest way is by Instagram. Just look up my personal Instagram. It’s Leo, L-E-O-M-I-L-L-S-M, Leo Mills For the fund, the best way is gonna be my email. It’s literally leo at US Standard Capital dot com.

And then if you want to do any type of investment in in Florida in general, but again, you know We talked about this briefly if you have the money to invest in luxury pre-construction in South, Florida I don’t think that there are a lot of assets that are gonna allow you to be as efficient with your capital and generate the returns that you can with this product in specific so if I could give any any piece of advice to some of your you listeners out there who have some money saved up and could consider buying a property that’s 750 a million dollars up I think that buying some

here in South Florida pre-construction is one of the best investments anyone could make. For that I’d say my phone number is probably the best one 239-478-6208. So you know recap, leomillsm, my Instagram handle that’s going to get you anything you need, leo at US Standard Capital for the fund, and my phone number 239-478-6208 for any real estate investments in Florida.

Christian (27:15.972)
Beautiful. You order here, ladies and gentlemen, definitely be sure to reach out to Leo. Leo, greatly appreciate your time, my friend. I really enjoyed our conversation. I really did. And just wishing you all the best, in future endeavors and just your life. And just excited to see you keep growing.

Leo D. Mills (27:22.99)
Appreciate you.

Leo D. Mills (27:31.852)
Yes, sir. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for the opportunity and I’m sure we’ll be talking soon Christian.

Christian (27:35.866)
100 % 100 % we will well guys. I hope you enjoy the show as much as I did I know I did so as always my friends We will see you on the next episode. See you soon

Leo D. Mills (27:48.462)
See ya.